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Speak up on the new Yukon Climate Change, Energy & Green Economy plan!

Yukon government is creating a Climate Change, Energy & Green Economy plan, and your comments are needed! This consultation ends Monday, December 17, 2018.
Learn more and submit a comment here: https://online.engageyukon.ca/project/integratedstrategy/ There will be a second chance for public comment once the draft plan has been released.

The YCS Perspective:

YCS is submitting a list of recommendations to the Yukon government. Here is a summary of our perspective:

Vision: The Yukon needs a bold plan to significantly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and create a sustainable economy while protecting the wild places that we all love. The plan must include ambitious, measurable greenhouse gas reduction targets; support for small-scale, community-based renewable energy and efficiency projects; and landscape-scale conservation planning. Key points to consider:

Yukon government should set reduction targets for the territory that are consistent with the latest climate science. (The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that we need a 50% reduction by 2030 and 100% by 2050 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. In November 2018, the European Union (EU) committed to being carbon neutral by 2050.)

Yukon government must set GHG reduction targets for its own operations that are consistent with territory wide and global targets for a 1.5°C future.

2. Create a clean, efficient energy system

Direct the Yukon Utilities Board to consider environmental and social impacts. This will enable Yukon Energy to pursue and justify more sustainable electricity sources.

Support small-scale renewables and efficiency initiatives that benefit local communities. Require new mines, which have a high energy demand, to contribute clean energy infrastructure to Yukon or contribute significant dollars to energy efficiency and conservation initiatives to reduce GHG emissions and electrical demand.

3. Keep Yukon wild

The Yukon’s land, water and wildlife are unique, and a green economy must exist within ecosystem limits as well as carbon limits. Commit to landscape-scale conservation planning to preserve our wild places while we move away from boom-and-bust resource extraction towards a more sustainable economic model.

Support the shift to a circular economy that keeps resources in use as long as possible through programs and incentives for people and industry to reduce waste

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